


A Father's Pride

by SooperSara



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, F/M, I'm reaching through my computer screen to personally punch you all in the face, Nightmares, One Shot, Podfic, You Have Been Warned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:27:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26417956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SooperSara/pseuds/SooperSara
Summary: Even nightmares go wrong sometimes.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 29
Kudos: 125
Collections: Zutara Angst Challenge





	A Father's Pride

**Author's Note:**

> ####  [▶ Podfic](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kTIUVl10r-_FHrRfNHPAHK7TvmilSXvn/view?usp=sharing)

_Stillness. For an instant, the world drops away, and all he knows is the cold, polished marble under his hands and knees._

_He knows this place. The Agni Kai arena is burned into his memory so well that he recognizes the smallest marks in the floor. He knows what is coming. Zuko hears movement and presses his eyes shut. There is no way to stop this. No way to escape. He’s tried too many times before._

_“Prince Zuko.”_

_The world stops moving, and he braces himself for what comes next. For Father’s voice._ You will learn respect. _For the scent of burning hair and flesh, and the noises of shock from the crowd._

_“You will make me proud.”_

_The wrongness seeps in slower than it should, working outward from his bones and into his veins. Father is_ never _proud._

_Heart racing, he risks an upward glance._

_Father looms overhead, but his face bears an unfamiliar smile, and his eyes pierce through Zuko, cruel and cold._

_Zuko tries to shake his head. He_ won’t.

_The smile broadens. “Look around, Prince Zuko. You already have.”_

_Zuko knows better than to trust Father, but his pulse roars and he can’t breathe properly. He tries not to look._

_He can’t stop himself._

_At first, the arena appears empty. Beyond the edges of the dueling platform it is dim, and his eyes strain to make out anything more than faint, grayish smudges._

_Then, all at once, the smudges take shape. Faces and forms he knows, all motionless, all still and staring._

_All dead._

_His stomach turns, and when he tries to look away, he is met by another face, more familiar, more dear than all the others. Her skin is waxy, her eyes cloudy and dull._

_Katara._

_No._

_Zuko reaches out. Maybe she isn’t gone. Maybe if he can reach her—_

_Streaks of black trail up his hands, his wrists, his arms. Blood, he thinks, and his stomach lurches. Blood or soot._

_“I didn’t think you capable.” Father steps around to his side, and a hand rests on Zuko’s shoulder. “I am proud of you, my son.”_

* * *

Zuko shoots back to consciousness, but there is no relief in waking. The nausea worsens, and he bolts out of bed. He barely makes it to the sink before he is sick, and once he is finished, he hangs over the basin, breathing hard.

“Zuko?” 

Footsteps approach, and Katara’s small, soft hands close around his arm. He stares downward, pulse too fast, his forehead streaming with sweat. He can’t stop shaking.

“Zuko.” Her voice is softer this time, and she pushes his hair from his eyes. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

His eyes are drawn lower, to the sharp crescent of moonlight reflecting off of her silk nightclothes, off of the smooth bulging abdomen they cling too. Three more months. Three more months, and the bulge will be replaced by a life.

_You will make me proud._

The bile rises again.

He turns toward the sink and retches.

**Author's Note:**

> This is by far the fastest I've ever written and posted a fic, so I hope it punches you hard enough 😘


End file.
